Method and system for timing synchronization in a cellular network

ABSTRACT

An aggregate cell of a cellular network includes a plurality of dispersed modular cells. The modular cells each include a cellular radio and collectively perform the function of a cellular base station. A distributed clock is established by transmitting timing beacons from one or more of the modular cells. Each modular cell receives the timing beacons. Each modular cell that transmits a timing beacon provides a transmission timestamp to a cell controller. Each modular cell that receives a timing beacon provides a reception timestamp to the cell controller. The cell controller schedules signal transmissions from the modular cells based on the transmission and reception timestamps.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of cellular communicationsystems.

Description of the Related Art

Cellular communication networks typically include a plurality of cells.Each cell corresponds to a geographic area. Each cell typically includesa base station. The base station includes a cellular radio. Macrocellular radios are typically mounted on an elevated outdoor locationsuch as the top of a building. Small cellular radios are typicallymounted indoor, or on opportunistic mounting locations. The base stationprovides cellular communication service to user equipment, such asmobile phones, in the geographical area of the cell.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In one embodiment, a method includes transmitting a first timing beaconfrom a first primary modular cell of an aggregate cell and transmittinga second timing beacon from a second primary modular cell of theaggregate cell. The method includes receiving the first timing beacon atthe second primary modular cell and receiving the second timing beaconat the first primary modular cell. The method includes providing, to acell controller of the aggregate cell, a transmission time stamp of thefirst timing beacon by the first primary modular cell, a transmissiontime stamp of the second timing beacon by the second primary modularcell, a reception timestamp of the first timing beacon by the secondprimary modular cell, and a reception timestamp of the second timingbeacon by the first primary modular cell. The method includesscheduling, with the cell controller, cellular transmissions from thefirst and second primary modular cells to user equipment based on thetransmission timestamps and the reception timestamps.

In one embodiment, a method includes managing, with a cell controller,an aggregate cell including a primary modular cell and a plurality ofsecondary modular cells and receiving, with the primary modular cell, anout of band timing signal. The method includes transmitting, from theprimary modular cell, a timing beacon including a transmission timestamp indicating a transmission time of the timing beacon from theprimary modular cell. The method includes receiving the timing beacon ateach of the plurality of secondary cells and generating, with eachsecondary cell, a respective reception time stamp indicating a receptiontime of the timing beacon by the secondary modular cell. The methodincludes providing the transmission time stamp and the reception timestamps to the cell controller and calculating, with the cell controller,a respective a clock offset for each secondary modular cell based on thetiming stamp.

In one embodiment, a media receiving device includes media receptioncircuitry configured to receive a media stream and media outputcircuitry configured to output the media stream to an electronic devicefor display on the electronic device. The media receiving deviceincludes a modular cell configured to provide cellular communicationservices to user equipment as part of an aggregate cell. The modularcell is configured to receive a timing signal, output a timing beacon toother modular cells of the aggregate cell based on the timing signal,and to provide a transmission timestamp of the timing beacon to a cellcontroller of the aggregate cell.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cellular communication system, accordingto one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an aggregate cell, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a primary modular cell, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a media receiving device, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a cell controller, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 6 is flow diagram of a process for providing cellular communicationservice, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is flow diagram of a process for providing cellular communicationservice, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 8 is flow diagram of a process for providing cellular communicationservice, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 9 is flow diagram of a process for providing cellular communicationservice, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 10 is flow diagram of a process for providing cellularcommunication service, according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cellular communication system 100,according to an embodiment. The cellular communication system 100includes an aggregate cell 102, a cell controller 104, and an out ofband timing source 106. The aggregate cell 102 includes one or moremodular cells 107. There are two types of modular cells—primary modularcells 108 and secondary modular cells 110. The components of thecellular communication system 100 cooperate to provide a cellularcommunication network. The cellular communication network can enablecommunication between user equipment such as cellular phones, tablets,laptop computers, and other electronic devices.

In one embodiment, the aggregate cell 102 provides cellularcommunication services to authorized user equipment in the geographicalarea covered by the aggregate cell 102. User equipment can includemobile phones, tablets, or other cellular-enabled electronic devices.While only a single aggregate cell 102 is illustrated in FIG. 1 , inpractice, the cellular communication system 100 may include a pluralityof aggregate cells each configured to provide cellular communicationservices to user equipment in the geographic area corresponding to thecell.

The aggregate cell 102 includes a plurality of dispersed, modular cells107 that each communicate with user equipment. The modular cells 107correspond to relatively small, low power cellular radios compared tothe cellular radio of a traditional base station. The modular cells 107are dispersed throughout the geographic area of the aggregate cell 102.The modular cells 107 and the cell controller 104 collectively performthe role of a single large cellular radio of the base station of atraditional macro cell.

A single aggregate cell made up of multiple smaller radios, i.e., themodular cells 107, comes with various challenges. One particularchallenge is managing clock distribution among the various modular cells107. The timing of signals between the various modular cells 107 anduser equipment may call for timing resolution on the order of severalnanoseconds. While a traditional base station radio may establish aclock based on a GPS disciplined oscillator, in the aggregate cell 102many of the secondary modular cells 110 may not have GPS receivers.Furthermore, the primary modular cells 108 may be positioned indoors andmay not be able to reliably receive GPS signals to synchronize aninternal real time clock.

In one embodiment, multiple modular cells 107 of the aggregate cell 102may simultaneously communicate with a single user equipment. Inparticular, multiple modular cells 107 may provide the same data packetsto a single user equipment to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of datapackets received by the user equipment. The multiple modular cells 107will be separated by various distances from the user equipment and fromeach other. The speed of light is about 0.3 m/ns. Accordingly, when thetiming of signal arrival is expected to be accurate within a fewnanoseconds, the relative distances and the timings of signaltransmission greatly affect whether additive signal reception isachieved. To achieve the additive effect of the same data packetarriving at a user equipment for multiple modular cells 107, the timingdifference tolerance in the arrival of the data packet from multiplesources may be quite small. For example, in 5G cellular communicationsystems the timing difference tolerance may be on the order of tens ofnanoseconds. If the data packets arrive at the user equipment separatedby times greater than the tolerance, not only will the additive benefitsthe lost, but a destructive effect may occur in which the user equipmentmay be unable to decipher the data packets. Accordingly, it is highlybeneficial to schedule the transmission of data packets from themultiple modular cells 107 within tight tolerances.

In one embodiment, the modular cells 107, the cell controller 104, andthe out of band timing source 106 cooperate to establish reliable clocksynchronization between the modular cells 107. One or more of theprimary modular cells 108 receives a timing signal from the out of bandtiming source 106. The one or more primary modular cells 108 issuestiming beacons to the other modular cells 107 based on the timingsignal. Secondary modular cells 110 may also send beacons, but thesebeacons are typically less precisely timed than the primary beacons.Each modular cell 107 that issues a timing beacon reports, to the cellcontroller 104, the time at which the timing beacon was issued. Eachmodular cell 107 that receives a timing beacon reports, to the cellcontroller 104, the time at which the timing beacon was received. Thecell controller 104 determines the relative offsets in the internalclocks of each modular cell based on the transmission and receptiontimes of the timing beacons. The cell controller 104 then schedulessignal transmission from each of the modular cells 107 based on thecalculated relative offsets in the internal clocks of the modular cells107. Further details regarding the out of band timing source 106, thetransmission and receipt of timing beacons, and the functions performedby the cell controller 104 are set forth below.

In one embodiment, the modular cells 107 include one or more primarymodular cells 108 and one or more secondary modular cells 110. The oneor more primary modular cells 108 receive timing signals from the out ofband timing source 106 and issue timing beacons to the secondary modularcells 110 and to the other primary modular cells 108. In one embodiment,the secondary modular cells 107 do not issue timing beacons. Eachprimary modular cell 108 reports the transmission time of its timingbeacons to the cell controller 104. Each primary modular cell 108 andsecondary modular cell 110 reports the receipt times of the timingbeacons to the cell controller 104.

In one embodiment, the aggregate cell 102 includes only a single primarymodular cell 108. The primary modular cell 108 receives a timing signalfrom the out of band timing source 106 (described in greater detailbelow). The primary modular cell 108 transmits a timing beacon to thesecondary modular cells 110. The timing beacon includes a transmissiontimestamp indicating the time that the timing beacon was transmitted.The timestamp is based on the internal clock of the primary modular cell108 synchronized with the out of band timing source 106. The timingbeacon may also include other information about the primary modular cell108 that transmitted the timing beacon. For example, the timing beaconmay include an identification code identifying the primary modular cell.The timing beacon may include a location of the primary modular cell.

The primary modular cell 108 may transmit the timing beacon in band orout of band. In band transmission corresponds to transmitting the timingbeacon with a frequency band used by the aggregate cell 102 tocommunicate with user equipment. Out of band transmission corresponds totransmitting the timing beacon in a frequency outside of the frequencyband used by the aggregate cell 102 to communicate with user equipment.Further details regarding in band and out of band transmission areprovided below.

After the primary modular cell 108 transmits the timing beacon, theprimary modular cell 108 provides metadata to the cell controller 104.The metadata includes the transmission timestamp of the timing beacon,the identification of the primary modular cell 108, and the location ofthe primary modular cell 108.

The secondary modular cells 110 receive the timing beacon from theprimary modular cell 108. The secondary modular cells 110 may receivethe timing beacon in band or out of band. When the secondary modularcells 110 receive the timing beacon, the secondary modular cells 110each provide metadata to the cell controller 104. The metadata caninclude the reception timestamp of the timing beacon and anidentification of the secondary modular cell 110. The receptiontimestamp is based on an internal clock of the secondary modular cell110.

The cell controller 104 utilizes the metadata received from the primarymodular cell 108 and the secondary modular cells 110 to establishcoordinated timing between the primary modular cell 108 and thesecondary modular cells 110. In particular, the cell controller 104 canutilize the transmission and receipt timestamps related to the timingbeacon to calculate signal latencies between the primary modular cell108 and the secondary modular cells 110. The signal latencies canindicate how far apart the primary modular cell 108 and the secondarymodular cells 110 are. This information can be utilized by the cellcontroller 104 to schedule signals from the primary modular cell 108 andthe secondary modular cells 110. Accordingly, the cell controller 104utilizes the transmission and receipt timestamps associated with timingbeacon to establish timing synchronization between the primary modularcell 108 and the secondary modular cells 110.

In one embodiment, the aggregate cell 102 includes multiple primarymodular cells 108 and multiple secondary modular cells 110. A firstprimary modular cell 108 receives a timing signal from the out of bandtiming source 106. The first primary modular cell 108 transmits a timingbeacon to the secondary modular cells 110 and to the other primarymodular cells 108 of the aggregate cell 102. The timing beacon includesa transmission timestamp indicating the time that the timing beacon wastransmitted. The timestamp is based on the internal clock of the firstprimary modular cell 108 synchronized with the out of band timing source106. The timing beacon may also include other information about thefirst primary modular cell 108 that transmitted the timing beacon. Forexample, the timing beacon may include an identification codeidentifying the first primary modular cell. The timing beacon mayinclude a location of the first primary modular cell.

After the first primary modular cell 108 transmits the timing beacon,the first primary modular cell 108 provides metadata to the cellcontroller 104. The metadata includes the transmission timestamp of thetiming beacon, the identification of the first primary modular cell 108,and the location of the first primary modular cell 108.

The secondary modular cells 110 and the other primary modular cells 108receive the timing beacon from the first primary modular cell 108. Thesecondary modular cells 110 and the other primary modular cells 108 mayreceive the timing beacon in band or out of band. When the secondarymodular cells 110 and the other primary modular cells 108 receive thetiming beacon, the secondary modular cells 110 and the other primarymodular cells 108 each provide metadata to the cell controller 104. Themetadata can include the reception timestamp of the timing beacon, anidentification of the secondary modular cell 110 or primary modular cell108 that receives the timing beacon, and the identification of the firstprimary modular cell that transmitted the timing beacon. The receptiontimestamp is based on an internal clock of the secondary modular cell110 or primary modular cell 108 that received the timing beacon.

A second primary modular cell 108 transmits a timing beacon based on atiming signal received from the out of band timing source 106. Thetiming beacon transmitted by the second primary modular cell 108includes a transmission timestamp based on an internal clock of thesecond primary modular cell 108 and the out of band timing source 106.The timing beacon transmitted by the second primary modular cell 108 caninclude the same types of data as the timing beacon transmitted by thefirst primary modular cell 108. The second primary modular cell 108 alsoprovides metadata to the cell controller 104 including the transmissiontimestamp of the timing beacon and other types of data as describedabove in relation to the first primary modular cell 108.

The secondary modular cells 110 and the other primary modular cells 108,including the first primary modular cell 108, receive the timing beaconfrom the second primary modular cell 108. The secondary modular cells110 and the other primary modular cells 108 each provide metadata to thecell controller 104 including reception timestamps and other data asdescribed above in relation to the timing beacon transmitted by thefirst primary modular cell 108.

The remaining primary modular cells 108 also transmit timing beacons andprovide metadata to the cell controller 104 in the same manner asdescribed in relation to the first and second primary modular cells 108.All primary modular cells 108 and secondary modular cells 110 thatreceived the timing beacons provide metadata to the cell controller 104in the same manner as described above in relation to the first andsecond primary modular cells.

The secondary modular cells 110 optionally transmit timing beacons andprovide metadata to the cell controller 104 in the same manner asdescribed in relation to the first and second primary modular cells 108.All primary modular cells 108 and secondary modular cells 110 thatreceive the timing beacons provide metadata to the cell controller 104in the same manner as described above in relation to the first andsecond primary modular cells

The cell controller 104 utilizes the metadata related to transmissionand reception of the timing beacons to synchronize timing among theprimary modular cells 108 and the secondary modular cells 110. The cellcontroller 104 analyzes the transmission and reception timestampsassociated with the timing beacon sent from the various primary modularcells 108 to determine timing offsets and relative positions between thevarious modular cells 107 of the aggregate cell 102. The cell controller104 can determine if the internal clocks of the various secondarymodular cells 110 are out of sync with the internal clocks of theprimary cells 108, and by how much, based on the transmission andreception timestamps related to the various timing beacons. The cellcontroller 104 can accurately determine the positions of each of theprimary modular cells 108 and the secondary modular cells 110 based onthe transmission and reception timestamps related to the various timingbeacons. The cell controller 104 can then utilize this information toschedule data transmissions by each of the modular cells 107 to userequipment.

The cell controller 104 controls the overall communication betweenmodular cells 107 and user equipment 112 based on the timing andlocation data obtained based on the transmission and receptiontimestamps associated with the timing beacons. The cell controller 104can determine which modular cells 107 should communicate with varioususer equipment 112. For example, if multiple modular cells 107 in theaggregate cell 102 receive signals from user equipment 112, the cellcontroller 104 can determine the location of the user equipment 112 andcan determine which modular cell 107 or modular cells 107 shouldcommunicate with the user equipment 112.

The cell controller 104 controls the timing of signals transmitted bythe various modular cells 107. The cell controller 104 may determinethat multiple modular cells 107 should transmit the same data packets toa single user equipment 112 in the additive manner described above. Thecell controller 104 uses the derived knowledge of the clock offsets ofthe various modular cells 107 and the relative positions of the variousmodular cells 107 to schedule the precise transition time of datapackets from each modular cell 107 based on the internal clocks of eachmodular cell 107 so that the data packets arrive substantiallysimultaneously at the user equipment 112. Thus, even if the internalclocks of various modular cells 107 are out of sync with each other, thecell controller 104 is aware of the offset between the internal clocksof the various modular cells 107 and takes this into account whenproviding transmission times to each modular cell 107 for the datapackets. In this way, the cell controller 104 can ensure that all userequipment 112 communicating with the aggregate cell 102 is provided witheffective cellular communication service.

In one embodiment, the cell controller 104 is implemented in a cloudcomputing environment. Accordingly, the cell controller 104 may includephysical and virtual processing resources, memory resources, and datatransmission resources that are located or implemented remotely from themodular cells 107 of the aggregate cell 102. The cloud-based cellcontroller 104 can communicate with the modular cells 107 via theInternet or other networks in conjunction with the cellularcommunication services provided by the aggregate cell 102.

In one embodiment, the cell controller 104 is implemented, at leastpartially, with computing resources associated with one or more of themodular cells 107. While each modular cell 107 may include one or moretransceivers, memory resources, processing resources, and othercomputing resources associated with cellular network communication, atleast one of the modular cells 107 may include additional computingresources for implementing the cell controller 104. The computingresources of the cell controller 104 may be housed with other computingresources associated with the cellular communication resources of themodular cell 107. The computing resources of the cell controller 104 maybe physically separate from computing resources associated with thecellular communication resources of the modular cell 107.

In one embodiment, the cell controller 104 is distributed among multipleof the modular cells 107. In this case, computing resources of the cellcontroller 104 may be distributed among multiple of the modular cells107. Furthermore, in one embodiment, the computing resources associatedwith the cell controller 104 may be distributed among cloud computingresources, and computing resources associated with one or more of themodular cells 107. In one embodiment, the cell controller 104 may beimplemented with computing resources physically located within ageographic area associated with the aggregate cell 102, but separatefrom all of the modular cells 107. Those of skill in the art willrecognize, in light of the present disclosure, that there are many waysto implement a cell controller 104 in accordance with principles of thepresent disclosure.

In one embodiment, the out of band timing source 106 is a GPS basedtiming source. The GPS based timing source includes GPS satellites thatissue timing signals. Accordingly, a primary modular cell 108 may bepositioned to receive a timing signal from one or more GPS satellites.The primary modular cell 108 calibrates or synchronizes its internalclock with the timing signal from the GPS satellites. The primarymodular cell 108 may then transmit its timing beacons with timestampsbased on the timing signals from the GPS satellites. Multiple of theprimary modular cells 108 may transmit timing beacons based on GPStiming signals. In this example, the primary modular cells 108 may bepositioned outside. Alternatively, the primary modular cells 108 may bepositioned indoors, but may be coupled to one or more antennas that arepositioned outside in order to receive GPS timing signals.

In one embodiment, the out of band timing source 106 is a media streamtiming source. The media stream timing source can include an MPEG-2television stream. MPEG-2 television streams include highly precisetiming signals for controlling start and finish times of televisionprograms and start and finish times of commercial breaks withintelevision programs. One or more primary modular cells 108 may beconfigured to receive timing data from the MPEG-2 television streams andmay synchronize their internal clocks with the timing data from theMPEG-2 television streams. In one embodiment, an MPEG transportdemultiplexer listens for data with a particular packet identifier(PID). On regular intervals the head end puts MPEG private data on thatPID. The interval may be 1 s, in one example, though other intervals canbe used. The system can tolerate some imprecision in the intervalsbecause all of the modular cells 107 receivers within the aggregate cellwill get the data at the exact same time, plus or minus small offsetsdue to time of flight. The transport demultiplexer places the I/Q valuesof the specified PID in memory, along with a timestamp from the internalclock 134. The MPEG decoder recognizes the private data and signals tothe FPGA that the I/Q values from the MPEG private data are in memory.The FPGA finds the exact start and end of the MPEG private data inmemory, and, thus, the exact time when the private data arrived at thereceiver. The modular cell sends the exact time arrival of the privatedata to the cell controller 104. The cell controller 104 can use thetime of arrival from each modular cell 107 to calculate the relativetime offset of each modular cell 107. Other types of television streamtiming sources can be utilized without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a geographical region 118 in which anaggregate cell 102 is implemented, according to one embodiment. Aplurality of buildings 120 a-120 f are located within the geographicalregion 118. Each building 120 a-120 f includes a respective mediareceiving device 122 a-b. Each media receiving device 120 a-120 fincludes either a primary modular cell 108 a, 108 b or a secondarymodular cell 110 a-110 d. The primary modular cells 108 a, 108 b and thesecondary modular cells 110 a-110 d makeup an aggregate cell 102 thatprovides cellular communication services to user equipment, such as theuser equipment 112 a, 112 b.

In one embodiment, the media receiving devices 122 a-122 f areconfigured to provide video and audio media to residents of thebuildings 120 a-120 f or to individuals visiting the buildings 120 a-120f. The media receiving devices 122 a-122 f can provide television feeds,video streaming feeds, audio streaming feeds, digital recording feeds,or other types of audio or video media. The media receiving devices 122a-122 f can be coupled via a wireless or wired connection to one or moreelectronic devices that include a display such as a television, acomputer monitor, a tablet, a desktop computer, a smart phone, a laptopcomputer, or other types of electronic devices that include displays.Alternatively, or additionally, the media receiving devices 122 a-122 fcan include their own displays. The media receiving devices 122 a-122 fcan provide video media to the displays.

In one embodiment, the media receiving devices 122 a-122 f are part of asatellite television system. In this case, a respective satellitereceiver may be mounted to an exterior of each building 120 a-120 f. Thesatellite receivers may be coupled to the media receiving devices 122a-122 f by a wired or wireless connection. The satellite receivers mayreceive a satellite television stream from one or more satellites. Thesatellite receivers provide the satellite television streams to themedia receiving devices 122 a-122 f. The media receiving devices 122a-122 f provide content from the satellite television streams to theelectronic devices that display the media content.

In one embodiment, the media receiving devices 122 a-122 f are part of acable television system. Each media receiving device 122 a-122 freceives a cable television stream from a cable television system. Themedia receiving devices 122 a-122 f provide content from the cabletelevision streams to the electronic devices that display the mediacontent.

In one embodiment, the media receiving devices 122 a-122 f are set-topboxes of a television provider system or other media provider system.

Each media receiving device 122 a-122 f includes a modular cell 107. Themodular cells 107 provide cellular communication services to userequipment 112 a within the geographic region 118. The modular cells 107each include one or more cellular radios configured to transmit andreceive cellular signals within one or more frequency bands allotted tothe aggregate cell 102. The modular cells 107 each include memory andprocessing resources for providing cellular communication services.Accordingly, the media receiving devices 122 a-122 f not only includecomputing resources for receiving, processing, and outputting mediacontent, but also include hardware and software resources of the modularcells 107. In one embodiment, each media receiving device 122 a-122 fcan include hardware and software resources that are shared forproviding traditional media receiving device functionality and modularcell functionality.

In the example of FIG. 2 , the media receiving devices 122 a, 122 finclude primary modular cells 108 a, 108b. The media receiving devices122 b-122 e include secondary modular cells 110 a-110 d. The primarymodular cells 108 a, 108 b function in the manner described for primarymodular cells 108 in relation to FIG. 1 . The secondary modular cells122 b-122 d function in the manner described for secondary modular cells110 in relation to FIG. 1 . Though FIG. 2 illustrates an aggregate cell102 with six modular cells 107, in practice, an aggregate cell 102 caninclude fewer or many more modular cells than six. In some cases, anaggregate cell 102 may include 100 or more modular cells 107. ThoughFIG. 2 illustrates that each building includes a single media receivingdevice 122 having a modular cell 107, in practice, a single building caninclude multiple media receiving devices each including a modular cellof the aggregate cell 102. Other buildings in the geographic area 118may not include any media receiving devices 122 having a modular cell107.

As described in relation to FIG. 1 , the primary modular cells 108 a and108 b each receive timing signals from an out of band timing source 106(see FIG. 1 ) and broadcast timing beacons. Each primary modular cellreceives the timing beacons broadcast by the other (or others when thereare more than 3 primary modular cells 108). Each secondary modular cell110 a-110 d receives the timing beacons broadcast by the primary modularcells 108 a and 108 b. The primary modular cells 108 a and 108 b providemetadata to the cell controller 104 indicating the timestamps at whichthey broadcasted the respective timing beacons. The primary modularcells 108 a and 108 b, and the secondary modular cells 110 a-110 dprovide metadata to the cell controller 104 indicating, among otherthings, the timestamps at which they received the timing beacons.

The cell controller 104 utilizes the timing beacon transmission andreception timestamps, the geolocation data, and the identification dataincluded in the metadata in order to determine the relative locations ofall of the modular cells 107 and the offsets in their internal clocks.The cell controller 104 utilizes this information to schedule packettransmission from the modular cells 107 to the user equipment 112 a, 112b.

In one embodiment, user equipment 112 a and the user equipment 112 b aremobile phones held by users. The mobile phones are configured to receivecellular communication services from the aggregate cell 102. The mobilephones broadcast signals that can be received by the modular cells 107of the aggregate cell 102. The signals broadcast by the mobile phonescan indicate the identities of the mobile phones and locations of themobile phones. The modular cells 107 provide this data received from themobile phones to the cell controller 104. The cell controller 104 canthen determine which modular cells 107 should provide cellularcommunication services to the various mobile phones.

In one example, the cell controller 104 may determine that the primarymodular cell 108 a and the secondary modular cell 110 c should providecellular communication services to the user equipment 112 a. The cellcontroller 104 thing schedule the primary modular cell 108 a and thesecondary modular cell 110 c to provide identical data packets to theuser equipment 112. The cell controller 104 schedules each primarymodular cell 108 a and the secondary modular cell 110 c with timingselected to ensure that the data packets arrive at the user equipment112 substantially simultaneously, within timing intolerances. Thesimultaneous reception of data packets from multiple modular cells 107boost the signal-to-noise ratio of the data packets received by the userequipment 112 a. The result is that fewer data packets will be lost bythe user equipment 112 a.

In one example, the cell controller 104 may determine that the primarymodular cell 108 b and the secondary modular cell 110 b should providecellular communication services to the user equipment 112 b. The cellcontroller 104 can schedule the primary modular cell 108 b and thesecondary modular cell 110 b to provide identical data packets to theuser equipment 112 b. The cell controller 104 schedules the primarymodular cell 108 b and the secondary modular cell 110 b with timingselected to ensure that the data packets arrive at the user equipment112 b substantially simultaneously, within timing intolerances. Thesimultaneous reception of data packets from multiple modular cells 107boosts the signal-to-noise ratio of the data packets received by theuser equipment 112 b. The result is that fewer data packets will be lostby the user equipment 112 b.

As individuals carrying the user equipment 112 a, 112 b travel throughthe geographic region 118, the cell controller 104 can dynamicallyupdate which primary modular cells 107 communicate with each userequipment depending on locations of the user equipment 112 a, 112 b.Furthermore, in practice, there may be many more than two user equipmentin the geographic area 118 of the aggregate cell 102 at any given time.The cell controller 104 can manage communication between the modularcells 107 of the aggregate cell 102 and the various user equipment 112within the geographic area 118 of the aggregate cell 102.

In one embodiment, primary modular cells 108 would share a common out ofband timing or clock source, but that common timing or clock source mayhave local differences driven by cable lengths, multipath propagation,network topology, and other sources of fixed offsets in the time offlight of the clock or timing signal. In one embodiment, the modularcells 107 and the cell controller 104 calibrate out these localinfluences on the clock.

Out of band timing sources 106 can include one or more of GPS, localatomic clocks, data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS)or other sources to provide the clock to the primary module cell orcells. The secondary modular cells 107 receive the timing beacons andset their local internal clocks.

In one embodiment, when a primary modular cell 108 receives a timingbeacon from another primary modular cell, the primary modular cell 108is able to calculate the difference between its internal clock and theinternal clock of the other primary modular cell. This offset is sent tothe cell controller 104 to identify fixed and variable clock offsetsbetween the various elements of the aggregate cell 102. The cellcontroller 104 then configures an offset on each internal clock. Thisoffset is sent in the timing beacon from each primary modular cell. Thesecondary modular cells can then use the timing beacon or beacons to settheir internal clocks with high fidelity.

In one embodiment, when there are several primary modular cells 108within the aggregate cell 102, there is a potential for collisions whenthey send a timing beacon. If the primary modular cells 108 are within acertain distance of each other, all of their clocks are tightlysynchronized and they send their timing beacon at the exact same moment,the secondary modular cells 110 will be able to receive the resultanttiming beacon at an increased signal to noise ratio. This has greatbenefits in determining precisely when the pulse arrived, and thus theclock fidelity of the secondary modular cell. Conversely, if the primarymodular cells 108 are not able to send simultaneous packets, thesepackets would interfere with each other. The cell controller 104 has theinformation required to determine whether the several timing beaconsshould be sent at the same time, or staggered. If the timing beaconsshould be sent in a staggered manner, the cell controller 104 can applya hash value to each primary modular cell 108 in the aggregate cell 102.This hash would configure each primary modular cell source with thecorrect frequency, modulation, probability of sending the timing beacon.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the primary modular cell 108, according toone embodiment. The primary modular cell 108 includes an in bandtransceiver 130. The in band transceiver 130 transmits and receivescellular communication signals in one or more frequency bands assignedto the aggregate cell 102 of which the primary modular cell 108 is part.The cellular communication signals can include signals transmitted andreceived for initially establishing communication with a user equipment112. The cellular communication signals can include data packetstransmitted to and received from the user equipment 112. The datapackets can include text data packets, voice data packets, image datapackets, audio data packets, video data packets, and other types of datapackets commonly transmitted across cellular communication networks.

In one example, the primary modular cell 108 as part of a new radio (NR)fifth-generation (5G) network operating in accordance with 3GPPstandards. In this case, the primary modular cell 108 may be designatedto communicate in frequency band centered on 850 MHz with a bandwidth of10 MHz. In this case, the in band transceiver 130 is configured totransmit and receive cellular signals in the 10 MHz bandwidth frequencyband around 850 MHz. Other frequency bands and bandwidths can beutilized without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Inone example, the frequency band is centered around 600 MHz.

In one embodiment, the primary modular cell 108 is configured totransmit and receive time beacons via the in band receiver 130. Thetiming beacons are described in relation to FIGS. 1 and 2 . The primarymodular cell 108 can transmit the timing beacons with the in bandtransceiver 130 in the frequency band designated for cellularcommunications in the aggregate cell 102.

In one embodiment, the primary modular cell 108 includes a cellcontroller communication module 133. The cell controller communicationmodule 133 is configured to communicate with the cell controller 104.The cell controller communication module 133 can provide data to thecell controller 104 including timing beacon transmission timestamps,timing beacon reception timestamps, identification data associated withthe primary modular cell 108, timestamps and identification dataassociated with a user equipment 112, and practice scheduling data. Thecell controller communication module 133 can also receive, from the cellcontroller 104, packet scheduling data indicating when the primarymodular cell 108 should transmit data packets to various user equipment112 communicating with the primary modular cell 108. The cell controllercommunication module 133 can send and receive other types of data to andfrom the cell controller 104. In one example, the secondary modularcells 110 may also transmit timing beacons.

In one embodiment, the primary modular cell 108 includes an out of bandtransceiver 132. The out of band transceiver 132 is configured totransmit and receive wireless signals in a frequency band not designatedfor cellular communications of the aggregate cell 102. In oneembodiment, the out of band transceiver 132 is configured to transmitand receive timing beacons as described previously in relation to FIGS.1 and 2 . In one embodiment, the out of band transceiver 132 isconfigured to transmit timing signals in a frequency band with alonger-range than the frequency band of the in band transceiver 130.This ensures that the timing beacons from the primary modular cell 108will reach all of the other primary modular cells 108 and the secondarymodular cells 110 of the aggregate cell 102.

In one embodiment, the out of band transceiver 132 transmits andreceives signals in a frequency band designated for long range low powerwireless area network (LoRaWAN) communications. For example, the out ofband transceiver 132 may be configured to transmit and receive signalsin a frequency band centered on 915 MHz. Such a frequency band mayreliably carry timing beacons to all of the modular cells 107 in anaggregate cell 102. The out of band transceiver 132 can be configured totransmit timing beacons with a LoRaWAN protocol. The out of bandtransceiver 132 may also be configured to receive timing beacons fromother primary modular cells 108 in the LoRaWAN protocol and frequencyband.

In one embodiment, primary modular cells can periodically transmitLoRaWAN packets on a configurable set of frequencies. These frequenciescan be in the industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band or in aprivate band. These downstream packets can be the rough equivalent ofLoRaWAN beacons. These beacons can contain the same timing metadata asdescribed above, including the exact time the packet was sent. Thebeacons can also include the exact location of the sender.

In one embodiment, using LoRaWAN to distribute small cell clocks can beaccomplished with extensions used to carry the fine grained transmissiontime and the algorithms used to schedule the LoRaWAN packets and be surethat the beacons can be heard by all of the modular cells 107. LoRaWANclass B beacons are generally sent on “downstream” ISM frequencies.

The LoRaWAN standard has built in mechanisms to extend the beacon, butspecific uses of this extension mechanism are not described in thestandard. Bytes 3-127 of the standard LoRaWAN beacons are reserved forfuture use. The primary modular cells 108 can use 2 bytes of thereserved area for the precise timestamp at which the packet was sent bythe transmitter. The timestamp can be the number of nanoseconds afterthe current second in which the packet was sent. When a modular cell 107sends the timestamp information to the cell controller 104, thetimestamp can include the triplet of internal clock time, the finegrained received time of its local clock, and the timestamp included inthe timing message. This allows the cell controller 104 to calculate therelative clock offsets of each device.

In one embodiment, each modular cell 107 includes a LoRaWAN client andgateway chip. In this case, the modular cells 107 can use modifiedLoRaWAN Class B beaconing methods to distribute clock. When a givenprimary modular cell send its beacon, the other client chip in receivingmodular cells 107 will receive the beacon as normal.

In one embodiment, a primary modular cell 108 can use a half-duplexgateway chip and program the gateway to listen to the timing beaconsfrom the other modular cells 107 whenever it is not configured to send atiming beacon. This this can be accomplished using a field programmablegate array (FPGA) that does fine-grained timestamping on LoRaWANpackets.

In one embodiment, a primary modular cell 108 can use a client chipsetand send a timing beacon on upstream frequencies. The other modularcells 107 can listen for timing beacons whenever they are not configuredto send a timing beacon. The chipset may only support one frequency at atime. The modular cells 107 may need to be configured with a time-basedshared algorithm that generates a pseudo random frequency to use. All ofthe devices within an aggregate cell 102 can use the same algorithm, andthus get the same pseudo-random frequency for every beacon.

In one embodiment, secondary modular cells 110 can send upstream packetsto the gateways. These upstream packets can include a free-running clockof the secondary modular cell 110. A primary modular cell 108 canreceive the upstream packet and precisely timestamp it. The primarymodular cell can send the two timestamps to the cell controller 104. Thecell controller 104 would be able to calculate the drift on the clock ofthe secondary modular cell and send a message to the secondary modularcell to adjust the clock.

In one embodiment, the cell controller 104 can modify the frequency atwhich data is sent by the secondary modular cells balance the number ofpackets sent against a target clock accuracy.

In one embodiment, the primary modular cell 108 includes an internalclock 134 and a timing signal receiver 136. The internal clock 134includes a very fine resolution real time clock. The internal clock 134can include one or more oscillators. Timing signal receiver 136 receivesa timing signal from an out of band timing source 106. The internalclock 134 utilizes the out of band timing signals to maintain anaccurate real-time clock in conjunction with the one or moreoscillators. The timestamps from the internal clock 134 are used totimestamp all of the data sent and received by the primary modular cell108. The rate at which the internal clock 134 runs is periodicallyadjusted by the cell controller 104 to account for variations in theinternal clock 134 and the out of band timing source 106.

In an example in which the out of band timing source 106 is a GPS timingsource, the timing signal receiver 136 is configured to receive GPSsignals including the timing signals. The timing signal receiver 136 caninclude one or more GPS transceivers or receivers positioned to receiveGPS timing signals. Alternatively, the timing signal receiver 136 can becommunicatively coupled to a GPS transceiver and can receive timingsignals via the GPS transceiver.

In an example in which the out of band timing source 106 is a videostream timing source, the timing signal receiver 136 is configured toreceive immediate stream and extracted timing signal from the mediastream. In an example in which the primary modular cell is part of amedia receiving device that receives a satellite or cable media stream,the media stream is passed through the timing signal receiver 136. Thetiming signal receiver 136 is configured to extract the timing signalfrom the cable or satellite media stream. In one example, the mediastream is an MPEG-2 transport stream.

In one embodiment, the primary modular cell 108 includes processingresources 140 and memory resources 142. The memory resources 142 includeone or more computer readable media that store software instructions forproviding cellular communication services related to the aggregate cell102. The memory resources 142 can include software instructions forperforming the various functions associated with the primary modularcell 108 as described herein. The processing resources 140 execute theinstructions stored in one or more computer readable media of the memoryresources 142. One or more of the components of the primary modular cell108 may include or be implemented in conjunction with the processingresources 140 and the memory resources 142.

In one embodiment, the primary modular cell 108 includes a receivercontroller 131 that controls the in-band receiver 130 and the othercomponents and functions of the primary modular cell 108. The primarymodular cell 108 may also include a packet scheduler 133. Some packetscheduling may be dictated by the cell controller 104 and other packetscheduling may be determined by a packet scheduler of the primarymodular cell 108.

Though not shown in FIG. 3 , a secondary modular cell 110 may includethe same components, modules, and functionalities as the primary modularcell 108. However, the secondary modular cell 110 may not have a timingsignal receiver as the secondary modular cell 110 differs from theprimary modular cell 108 in that the secondary modular cell 110 does notgenerate primary timing beacons. However, in some embodiments thesecondary modular cell 110 may also generate timing beacons.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a media receiving device 122, according toone embodiment. The media receiving device 122 includes media receptioncircuitry 144, media processing circuitry 146, media output circuitry148, and a modular cell 107. The media receiving device 122 can furtherinclude processing resources and memory resources separate from ordispersed among the various components of the aggregate cell.

The media reception circuitry 144 can include circuitry for receivingimmediate stream. The media reception circuitry 144 can include one ormore ports for receiving wired connections that deliver the media streamto the media receiving device 122. The media reception circuitry 144 caninclude one or more wireless transceivers configured to wirelesslyreceive the media stream. The media reception circuitry 144 can includedigital signal processors, digital to analog converters,analog-to-digital converters, or other circuitry that can assist inreceiving a media stream. The media stream can include a video stream,and audio stream, a combination of video and audio streams, textstreams, or other types of streams. The media reception circuitry 144can include processing, memory, and data transmission resources. Themedia reception circuitry 144 can include capabilities for timestampingincoming streams in memory, recognizing that a trigger has beenreceived, and then examining the low level signals in memory to find theexact start/end of the trigger.

The media processing circuitry 146 can include circuitry and othercomputing resources for processing the media stream received by themedia reception circuitry 144. The media processing circuitry 146 caninclude software and circuitry for transforming, compressing,decompressing, or otherwise processing the media stream. The mediaprocessing circuitry 146 can include circuitry for extracting timingsignals or timing data from the media stream. The media processingcircuitry 146 can include processing, memory, and data transmissionresources.

The media output circuitry 148 is configured to output the processedmedia stream. The media output circuitry 148 can output the processedmedia stream to an electronic device external to the media receivingdevice 122. The media output circuitry 148 can include one or more portsfor outputting the media stream to an external electronic device via awired connection. The media output circuitry 148 can include one or morewireless transceivers configured to transmit the media stream to anexternal electronic device. The media output circuitry 140 can include adisplay configured to display the media stream. The media outputcircuitry 148 can include processing, memory, and data transmissionresources.

The modular cell 107 can be a primary modular cell 108 or secondarymodular cell 110 as described in relations to FIGS. 1-3 . The modularcell 107 may receive the timing signal extracted by the media processingcircuitry 146. Alternatively, the modular cell 107 may extract thetiming signals from the media stream or from a separate out of bandtiming source 106.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a cell controller 104, according to oneembodiment. The cell controller 104 includes a modular cell interface150. The modular cell interface is configured to interface with themodular cells 107, such as primary modular cells 108 and primary modularcells 110 described in relation to FIGS. 1-4 . The modular cellinterface 150 can receive metadata from the modular cells 107. Themetadata can include planning become reception timestamps, timing becametransmission timestamps, geolocation data, device identification codes,or other types of data. The modular cell phase 150 can providetransmission or packet scheduling data or commands to the modular cells107. Accordingly, the modular cell and phase 150 facilitatescommunication between the cell controller 104 and the modular cells 107of an aggregate cell 102.

In one embodiment, the cell controller 104 includes an analysis system152. The analysis system 152 analyzes the reception timestamps,transmission timestamps, and other types of metadata or data receivedfrom the modular cells 107 via the modular cell interface 150. Inparticular, the analysis system 152 can determine internal clock offsetsbetween the various modular cells 107. The analysis system 152 candetermine the relative distances between the various modular cells 107and user equipment 112. The analysis system 152 can determine the exactlocation of modular cells 107 and user equipment 112. The analysissystem 152 can determine the length of cable connecting a satellitereceiver to a modular cell 107 based on the timing offsets, locations,and signal latencies associated with the various modular cells 107.

In one embodiment, the cell controller 104 includes a packet scheduler154. The packet scheduler 154 schedules the transmission of packets fromthe various modular cells 107 to the various user equipment 112 in thegeographic area of the aggregate cell 102. The packet scheduler 154schedules and transmission of packets based on the timing offsets,signal latencies, distances, geographic locations, and other factorsderived by the analysis system 152. The packet scheduler 154 candetermine whether multiple modular cells 107 will transmit the same datapackets to a single user equipment 112 for an additive effect. Thepacket scheduler 154 can schedule other types of transmissions from themodular cells 107. The packet scheduler 154 can also determine whichmodular cells 107 will communicate with which user equipment 112.

In one embodiment, the cell controller 104 includes an intercellcommunication manager 155. The intercell communication manager 155communicates with adjacent aggregate cells and manages handoffs betweenthe aggregate cell 102 and adjacent aggregate cells. Accordingly, theintercell communication manager 155 manages transferring cellularcommunications services for user equipment entering the geographic areaof the aggregate cell 102 from an adjacent aggregate cell or for userequipment exiting the geographic area of the aggregate cell 102 into anadjacent aggregate cell.

In one embodiment, the primary modular cell 108 includes processingresources 156 and memory resources 158. The memory resources 158 includeone or more computer readable media that store software instructions forproviding cellular communication services related to the aggregate cell102. The memory resources 158 can include software instructions forperforming the various functions associated with the primary modularcell 108 as described herein. The processing resources 156 execute theinstructions stored in one or more computer readable media of the memoryresources 158. One or more of the components of the primary modular cell108 may include or be implemented in conjunction with the processingresources 156 and the memory resources 158. The cell controller 104 canbe implemented in the cloud. The cell controller 104 can include virtualprocessing and memory resources. Alternatively, so controller 104 can beimplemented in hardware within the geographic location of the aggregatecell 102.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method 600 for providing cellularcommunication services, according to one embodiment. The various aspectsof the method 600 can be utilized using any of the components,processes, methods, and functionality described in relation to FIGS. 1-5. Furthermore, the systems, components, and devices described inrelation to FIGS. 1-5 can utilize processes described in relation to themethod 600.

At 602, a primary modular cell receives an out of band timing signalfrom and out of band timing source. The primary modular cell can followa selected protocol to generate a timing beacon interval. For example,the primary modular cell can send one timing beacon every second.

At 604, the primary modular cell reads a local configuration todetermine the transmission timing of the timing beacon. One example, thetransmission time of the timing beacon is at the exact end of the out ofband timing signal. In one example, the transmission time of the timingbeacon is at a time of an internal interval signal. In one example, thetransmission time of the timing beacon is at a fixed offset from the outof band timing signal or the internal interval signal.

In one embodiment, at 606 the primary modular cell configures itstransceiver to the idle at the approximate time of the next timingbeacon.

In one embodiment, at 608, the primary modular cell places the timingbeacon data in the transceiver at the scheduled time. In one embodiment,the primary modular cell utilizes a fixed duration logic to trigger thetransmission of the timing beacon. The timing beacon can include theexact time of transmission, the Mac address of the primary modular cell,the exact location of the primary modular cell, the length of the cablesconnected to the primary modular cell, and the exact location of thetransceiver antenna of the primary modular cell.

In one embodiment, at 610 secondary modular cells and other primarycells receive the timing beacon. The secondary modular cells and theother primary cells may receive the timing beacon through ageneral-purpose packet processing path. A timestamp is included on allof the I/Q symbols. The I/Q symbols are kept in memory until the processidentifies if they are timing beacons are not. When a timing beacon isfound, a second pass is made through the I/Q symbols looking for aspecific part of the packet, typically the end of the preamble, to readthe timestamps associated with the I/Q Values and to know precisely whenthe packet was received.

In one embodiment, at 610, the primary modular cells and secondarymodular cells send timestamps to the cell controller. The cellcontroller is able to correlate the time the pulses were sent with timethat they received by each of the primary modular cells and secondarymodular cells. Using this knowledge, in combination with metadataregarding location and cable length, the cell controller is able toconfigure the clock offset on each of the primary and secondary modularcells. The cell controller is also able to track an error in the clocksynchronization on each of the components. The cell controller is ableto determine what level cell edge control is appropriate.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method 700 for providing cellularcommunication services, according to one embodiment. The various aspectsof the method 700 can be utilized using any of the components,processes, methods, and functionality described in relation to FIGS. 1-6. Furthermore, the systems, components, processes and devices describedin relation to FIGS. 1-6 can utilize processes described in relation tothe method 700.

At 702, the method 700 includes managing, with a cell controller, anaggregate cell including a primary modular cell and a plurality ofsecondary modular cells. At 704, the method 700 includes receiving, withthe primary modular cell, an out of band timing signal. At 706, themethod 700 includes transmitting, from the primary modular cell, atiming beacon including a transmission time stamp indicating atransmission time of the timing beacon from the primary modular cell. At708, the method 700 includes receiving the timing beacon at each of theplurality of primary and secondary cells. At 710, the method 700includes generating, with each modular cell, a respective reception timestamp indicating a reception time of the timing beacon by the secondarymodular cell. At 712, the method 700 includes providing the transmissiontime stamp and the reception time stamps to the cell controller. At 714,the method 700 includes calculating, with the cell controller, arespective a clock offset for each secondary modular cell based on thetiming stamp.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a method 800 for providing cellularcommunication services, according to one embodiment. The various aspectsof the method 800 can be utilized using any of the components,processes, methods, and functionality described in relation to FIGS. 1-7. Furthermore, the systems, components, processes, and devices describedin relation to FIGS. 1-7 can utilize processes described in relation tothe method 800.

At 802, the method 800 includes transmitting a first timing beacon froma first primary modular cell of an aggregate cell. At 804, the method800 includes transmitting a second timing beacon from a second primarymodular cell of the aggregate cell. At 806, the method 800 includesreceiving the first timing beacon at the second primary modular cell. At808, the method 800 includes receiving the second timing beacon at thefirst primary modular cell. At 810, the method 800 includes providing,to a cell controller of the aggregate cell, a transmission time stamp ofthe first timing beacon by the first primary modular cell, atransmission time stamp of the second timing beacon by the secondprimary modular cell, a reception timestamp of the first timing beaconby the second primary modular cell, and a reception timestamp of thesecond timing beacon by the first primary modular cell. At 804, themethod 800 includes scheduling, with the cell controller, cellulartransmissions from the first and second primary modular cells to userequipment based on the transmission timestamps and the receptiontimestamps.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a method 900 for providing cellularcommunication services, according to one embodiment. The various aspectsof the method 900 can be utilized using any of the components,processes, methods, and functionality described in relation to FIGS. 1-8. Furthermore, the systems, components, processes, and devices describedin relation to FIGS. 1-8 can utilize processes described in relation tothe method 900.

At 902, the method 900 includes managing, with a cell controller, anaggregate cell including a primary modular cell and a plurality ofsecondary modular cells. At 904, the method 900 includes configuring theprimary modular cell to receive an out of band timing signal. At 906,the method 900 includes configuring the primary modular cell to transmita timing beacon including a transmission time stamp indicating atransmission time of the timing beacon from the primary modular cell. At908, the method 900 includes configuring each secondary modular cell ofthe plurality of secondary modular cells to receive the timing beacon.At 910, the method 900 includes configuring each secondary modular cellof the plurality of secondary modular cells to generate a respectivereception time stamp indicating a reception time of the timing beacon bythe secondary modular cell. At 912, the method 900 includes receivingthe transmission time stamp and the reception time stamps at the cellcontroller. At 914, the method 900 includes calculating, with the cellcontroller, a respective a clock offset for each secondary modular cellof the plurality of secondary modular cells based on the timing stamp.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a method 1000 for providing cellularcommunication services, according to one embodiment. The various aspectsof the method 900 can be utilized using any of the components,processes, methods, and functionality described in relation to FIGS. 1-9. Furthermore, the systems, components, processes, and devices describedin relation to FIGS. 1-9 can utilize processes described in relation tothe method 1000.

At 1002, the method 1000 includes listening, with a transportdemultiplexer of a modular cell, for a selected packet identifierincluding MPEG private data. At 1004, the method 1000 includes placingI/Q values of the selected packet identifier in memory along with atimestamp from an internal clock of the modular cell for each symbol.1006, the method 1000 includes notifying, with an MPEG decoder of themodular cell, a field programmable gate array that the I/Q values fromthe MPEG private data are in memory. At 1008, method 1000 includesidentifying, with the field programmable gate array, the start and endof the MPEG private data in memory. At 1010, the method 1000 includessending, with the modular cell to a cell controller of an aggregatecell, an exact time of arrival of the private data. At 1012, the method1000 includes determining, with the cell controller, the time of arrivalfrom the modular cell relative to an offset.

The various embodiments described above can be combined to providefurther embodiments. Aspects of the embodiments can be modified, ifnecessary, to employ concepts of the various patents, applications andpublications to provide yet further embodiments.

These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of theabove-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, theterms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specificembodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should beconstrued to include all possible embodiments along with the full scopeof equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, theclaims are not limited by the disclosure.

1. A cell controller comprising: at least one processor; at least onecomputer-readable medium that stores software instructions that, whenexecuted by the at least one processor, causes operations to beperformed, the operations including: managing an aggregate cellincluding a primary modular cell and a plurality of secondary modularcells; configuring the primary modular cell to receive an out of bandtiming signal; configuring the primary modular cell as a master timingcell to transmit a timing beacon including a transmission time stampindicating a transmission time of the timing beacon from the primarymodular cell; receiving, from the primary module cell, a transmissiontime stamp included in a timing beacon transmitted by the primary modulecell, wherein the transmission time stamp indicates a transmission timeof the timing beacon from the primary modular cell; receiving, from theprimary module cell, a reception time stamps wherein each reception timestamp of the reception time stamps is generated by a respectivesecondary modular cell of the plurality of secondary modular cells andindicates a reception time of the timing beacon by the respectivesecondary modular cell; and calculating a respective a clock offset foreach secondary modular cell of the plurality of secondary modular cellsbased on the reception time stamps.
 2. The cell controller of claim 1,wherein the operations further include causing cellular communicationservices to be provided to user equipment with the primary modular celland the secondary modular cells.
 3. The cell controller of claim 2,wherein the operations further include scheduling, with the cellcontroller, data transmission from the primary modular cell and thesecondary modular cells to the user equipment based on the respectiveclock offsets.
 4. The cell controller of claim 1, wherein the operationsfurther include: scheduling, with the cell controller, transmission ofdata packets from the plurality of secondary modular cells to bereceived additively by the user equipment based on a location of theuser equipment and the respective clock offsets of the secondary modularcells.
 5. The cell controller of claim 1, wherein the timing signal isreceived from a GPS signal.
 6. The cell controller of claim 1 whereinthe timing signal is received from a television stream.
 7. The cellcontroller of claim 1, wherein the operations further includetransmitting the timing beacon on a frequency band of the aggregatecell.
 8. The cell controller of claim 1, wherein the timing beaconoutside a frequency band of the aggregate cell.
 9. The cell controllerof claim 8, wherein the timing beacon is transmitted with a Low PowerWide Area Network protocol.
 10. The cell controller of claim 1, whereinthe primary modular cell is a media receiving device.
 11. The cellcontroller of claim 10, wherein the media receiving device is asatellite television set-top box coupled to a satellite receiver. 12.The cell controller of claim 1, wherein the timing beacon includes alocation of the primary modular cell.
 13. The cell controller of claim1, wherein the timing beacon includes a MAC address of the primarymodular cell.
 14. The cell controller of claim 1, wherein the aggregatecell is a 5G cellular communication cell. 15-25. (canceled)
 26. A methodcomprising: managing an aggregate cell including a primary modular celland a plurality of secondary modular cells; configuring the primarymodular cell to receive an out of band timing signal; configuring theprimary modular cell as a master timing cell to transmit a timing beaconincluding a transmission time stamp indicating a transmission time ofthe timing beacon from the primary modular cell; receiving, from theprimary module cell, a transmission time stamp included in a timingbeacon transmitted by the primary module cell, wherein the transmissiontime stamp indicates a transmission time of the timing beacon from theprimary modular cell; receiving, from the primary module cell, areception time stamps wherein each reception time stamp of the receptiontime stamps is generated by a respective secondary modular cell of theplurality of secondary modular cells and indicates a reception time ofthe timing beacon by the respective secondary modular cell; andcalculating a respective a clock offset for each secondary modular cellof the plurality of secondary modular cells based on the reception timestamps.
 27. The method of claim 26, further comprising causing cellularcommunication services to be provided to user equipment with the primarymodular cell and the secondary modular cells.
 28. The method of claim27, further comprising scheduling, with a cell controller, datatransmission from the primary modular cell and the secondary modularcells to the user equipment based on the respective clock offsets. 29.The method of claim 26, further comprising: scheduling, with a cellcontroller, transmission of data packets from the plurality of secondarymodular cells to be received additively by the user equipment based on alocation of the user equipment and the respective clock offsets of thesecondary modular cells.
 30. The method of claim 26, wherein the timingsignal is received from a GPS signal.
 31. The method of claim 26,wherein the timing signal is received from a television stream.